Chelsea Boots - Page 2

(Mr Checks @ May 19 2005,13:54) Are these good for business casual (odd trouser/jacket no-tie) wear? I don't have any, but am intrigued by the CJ website. Do folks get them through Pediwear or someone in the US?

Polo Ralph Lauren occasionally has chelsea boots from the benchmade lines by C&J, along with Ralph's usual markup (30-60% over Pediwear, or 600 to 750 the stores versus $425-475 for pediwear). Â However, the Polo badged versions are more likely to be discounted or available on the US Ebay site than the Pediwear versions (Pediwear ran 30-50 GBP sales on the boots during the winter sale period). Â And of course, no risk of customs hold-ups for purchases in the US.

I note that the Barney's New York store in Beverly Hills routinely stocks C&J Chelsea boots for $450-$475. Presumably they are C&J Benchgrade. In fairness to Ralph, I've heard the claim that the C&Js he sells are made to a higher quality standard than regular Benchgrade--somewhere between Benchgrade and Handgrade. I've have scrutinized these C&J Benchgrade Chelseas rather closely and was not very impressed with the quality relative to the price. They didn't impress me as one whit better than A-Es and not as nice Alden.

Thanks for all of the various input, I may go with the leather soles. My reason for not putting this post into S&D was due to the nature of the shoe and the possible intent of using for business casual as well. I guess I do not consider anything by C&J "streetwear" and thus put it on the "otherside". Any idea as to the thickness of the rubber sole versus the leather?

I note that the Barney's New York store in Beverly Hills routinely stocks C&J Chelsea boots for $450-$475. Presumably they are C&J Benchgrade. In fairness to Ralph, I've heard the claim that the C&Js he sells are made to a higher quality standard than regular Benchgrade--somewhere between Benchgrade and Handgrade. I've have scrutinized these C&J Benchgrade Chelseas rather closely and was not very impressed with the quality relative to the price. They didn't impress me as one whit better than A-Es and not as nice Alden.

I'm not sure the current Polo C&J's are notably better or worse than standard Benchmade quality, but I do have two older boots with channelled soles and built on nicer looking lasts.... Those channelled sole versions may be 10% better than AE or Alden, but at 100% more the cost (I paid prices below AE's retail, but above AE's ebay selling price. Only for items not currently in AE's line - chelseas, jodphurs, suede chukkas) But otherwise, I agree. I think that the current Polo prices are little out of whack with the quality, relative to what you can get from AE or Alden.

Thanks guys; a wealth of information as always. Gotta admit, I'd love something that I could wear with jeans, when and if I ever buy nice jeans. Currently, I would have the incongruous mating of $13 Old Navy jeans and $575 British bench-made boots. If nothing else, this would serve to highlight how nice the boots are.

Where's Manton been? Haven't seen him posting anywhere recently. To tell the truth, I have a feeling Manton owns no Chelsea boots. In principal, you can order from the French C&J (about 500 euros), although I don't know how much shipping would cost you, whether they would lop off VAT, or if the person answering the phone spoke enough French. They've answered my e-mails but it's probably easiest to call during business hours. The British C&J store will not sell certain models that are available on the French market. However, you should try them as well as they do sell more Handgrades than are on their site/catalog. Checks, you could compare that image to Ted Kennedy drinking cheap booze in a luxury car. Cheap shot. I'd go for it -- it has that rather confident and ironic feeling like drinking vintage champers out of paper cups for the hell of it.

Checks, you could compare that image to Ted Kennedy drinking cheap booze in a luxury car. Cheap shot. I'd go for it -- it has that rather confident and ironic feeling like drinking vintage champers out of paper cups for the hell of it.

Did the latter on Lake Tahoe a couple of years ago for New Years. A '90 Grande Dame. Very nice. We weren't meaning to be ironic though. We'd just run out of clean glassware and no one wanted to wash dishes.